Report just in - Fight on top of train not going well for villian

Barry and the bull - caption please

Go on. You know you want to. Leave a caption in the comments. Go on. Gon on, go on, go on, go on, ye will, ye will, ye will.

Shuffling the DUP pack

With the Minister for Finance and Personnel being touted to leave his ministry to focus on his Westminster duties i feel a full DUP shuffle on the agenda.

The DUP ministeries are Enterprise, Trade & Investment; Culture, Arts & Leisure; Environment; and Finance & Personnel. They also have a Junior Minister in the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister.

So who will be where in the next few weeks?  Peter Robinson, our First Minister, will not go anywhere. However, Nigel Dodds is moving out to concentrate on his duties as an MP. Does this also set a precedent for the DUP Junior Minister, Jeffery Donaldson MP? and we all know that Sammy Wilson is biding his time before he leaves DOE.

This would leave three places without 'demoting' anyone as such.

I have heard the name Simon Hamilton,  DUP MLA for Strangford, being touted for a ministry and that Arlene Foster, currently Minister for Enterprise Trade and Investment, will be moved up to the Ministery of Finance and Personnel.

I also expect Edwin Poots, who had been Minister for Culture Arts and Leisure before the Maze Stadium fiasco, to be offered a ministry in the reshuffle.  The is also a possibility of Peter Weir, MLA from North Down, getting a ministry as well.

So card son the table. Who will be in or moved in the great DUP reshuffle?

First Minister - Peter Robinson

Junior Minister - Peter Weir

DFP - Arlene Foster

DETI - Maybe Jeffery Donaldson but think more Edwin Poots

DCAL - Nelson McCausland

DOE - Simon Hamilton

I wonder if i should put a bet on? Never been any good at predicting the lotto, so I would not take my stab at who will go where as an absolute. But I think i may be close.

Only time will tell how close i came, but it is always fun speculating. 

New cabinet for Number 10

Direct from Number 10 website

What's your take?? Will this make any difference to Gordon's hold on power? I see Darling still holds the purse strings. Hmmmmm.


Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury and Minister for the Civil Service
The Rt Hon Gordon Brown MP

Leader of the House of Commons and Lord Privy Seal; Minister for Women and Equality (and deputising for the Prime Minister at PMQs)
The Rt Hon Harriet Harman QC MP

First Secretary of State, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills and Lord President of the Council
The Rt Hon Lord Mandelson

Chancellor of the Exchequer
The Rt Hon Alistair Darling MP

Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
The Rt Hon David Miliband MP

Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor
The Rt Hon Jack Straw MP

Secretary of State for the Home Department
The Rt Hon Alan Johnson MP

Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Rt Hon Hilary Benn MP

Secretary of State for International Development
The Rt Hon Douglas Alexander MP

Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government
The Rt Hon John Denham MP

Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families
The Rt Hon Ed Balls MP

Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change
The Rt Hon Ed Miliband MP

Secretary of State for Health
The Rt Hon Andy Burnham MP

Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
The Rt Hon Shaun Woodward MP * and #

Leader of the House of Lords and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
The Rt Hon Baroness Royall of Blaisdon

Minister for the Cabinet Office, and for the Olympics and Paymaster General
The Rt Hon Tessa Jowell MP

Secretary of State for Scotland
The Rt Hon Jim Murphy MP

Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The Rt Hon Yvette Cooper MP

Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Rt Hon Liam Byrne MP

Secretary of State for Wales
The Rt Hon Peter Hain MP

Secretary of State for Defence
The Rt Hon Bob Ainsworth MP

Secretary of State for Transport
Lord Adonis

Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Ben Bradshaw MP

Other Cabinet attendees
Chief Whip (Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury)
The Rt Hon Nick Brown MP
Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office
The Rt Hon Lord Malloch-Brown
Minister of State (Housing), Department for Communities and Local Government
The Rt Hon John Healey MP
Minister of State (Business), Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
The Rt Hon Pat McFadden MP
Minister of State (Science and Innovation), Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
The Rt Hon Lord Drayson*
Attend Cabinet when their Ministerial responsibilities are on the agenda
Attorney General
The Rt Hon Baroness Scotland of Asthal QC
Minister of State (Children), Department for Children, Schools and Families
The Rt Hon Dawn Primarolo MP
Minister of State (Employment), Department for Work and Pensions
The Rt Hon Jim Knight MP
Minister of State (Regional Economic Development and Co-ordination) Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
The Rt Hon Rosie Winterton MP

The Queen has accepted the following resignations:
Cabinet resignations
The Rt Hon Hazel Blears MP
The Rt Hon Geoff Hoon MP
The Rt Hon John Hutton MP
The Rt Hon Paul Murphy MP
The Rt Hon James Purnell MP
The Rt Hon Jacqui Smith MP
Other resignations
The Rt Hon Tony McNulty MP**
The Rt Hon Margaret Beckett MP**
The Rt Hon Beverley Hughes MP**

* unpaid ** attended Cabinet
# Provides Ministerial support to the Prime Minister in the Cabinet Office on the coordination of Government Policy and Strategy

Why should i vote today in the EU elections??

Today, 4th June 2009, is the 20th anniversary of Tianamen Square. Even if you are disgusted or disaffected with the political process here and just could not be bothered, remember that ordinary citizens in China were imprisoned, beaten, and killed for the simple act of asking for democratic reform. Something we are so blasé about here in the West.

All round the world people are beaten, imprisoned, and killed for merely speaking out about the idea of having the right to vote.

Voting in the UK is voluntary. You don't have to vote if you don't want to, but then that is an abdication of your civic responsibility of partaking in the system of democracy you live in.

We take this process for granted. Strangely, i think we were more aware of the need to vote during the darker times in Northern Ireland's history, but as we move into a more stable society where ideologies are fought over the debating chambers and not the hedge rows we begin to relax and feel a lesser need to take part.

This is a real danger. People who do not vote will begin to feel cut off from the decision making process and further alienate themselves from democratic activities. Elected politicians have shareholders who they must give a good account to, but to strengthen that accountability process the shareholders (voters) must participate.

Political parties and elected representatives also has a responsibility to engage with their constituents and voters to maintain a connection. Just like web 2.0 is about a two way communication process, rather than web 1.0 which was about a one way movement of information, so too we must move away from Politics 1.0 and into a more discursive Politics 2.0 where there is more of a two way relationship between the elected representative and the constituent. But that can be a debate for another day.

What i would really love to see on the ballot papers would be an option, clearly marked, at the bottom of the paper as 'None of the above'. At least then we would give those disaffected people an option to actively give their views in a way that can be quantified whilst getting them into the way of going to vote.

All i can do is ask you all to go and vote, remember those who have given their all for the right to vote, and be an active citizen holding our elected representatives to account.

Oh, and bring your photographic identification as well.